Lucas Mauragis is a 22-year-old Australian left-back who plays for the Newcastle Jets in the A-League. Mauragis has made 54 A-League appearances, including a loan spell at Wellington Phoenix, racking up 2 goals and 6 assists in the process. He has also played 9 times for Australia at U-23 level.
Mauragis is very much an attacking fullback. He’s always positioned high and wide when the Jets are in attack, like an old-school winger. From these positions, Mauragis can do a lot of damage. He has a tremendous left foot and he can put in a variety of deliveries that are hard for opposing defences to deal with. Mauragis is a strong short-range passer which helps him work better positions by linking up with teammates if he gets stuck in a less dangerous wide position. This short range passing also helps Mauragis in the build-up. He takes quite a lot of shots for a fullback, mostly from range or the left corner of the 18-yard box. His dribbling and carrying are ok. He’s got a fair amount of power in his ball carrying thanks to his strong build. It can be hard to stop him when he gets going. But he does tend to look a little stiff in possession. He does not quite have the smoothness or close control of elite players. But he manages to be a very effective attacking player at A-League level despite this.
Mauragis’ defensive contributions are fairly limited. Often he’s committed so far forward that it isn’t realistic for him to get back in time to make a defensive contribution. When he is in a position to make a defensive contribution his results are mixed. His 1v1 defending is mediocre. He hustles hard but he is susceptible to being beaten from time to time. Sometimes his positioning is problematic. He has a tendency to get caught in pick plays or get caught out chasing the ball.
Mauragis certainly has limiting factors and I doubt he’d ever reach a top-European league. But he’s putting up 0.3 xG+xA/90 from left-back on a team that’s third from bottom. That level of offensive production is hard to look past. I think Mauragis would really thrive on a dominant team in a mid-tier European league. There his middling defensive ability would be less of a problem and his offensive ability would be turbo-charged by playing with stronger team-mates.
Target Scouting 